I finally found what I was looking for... an SAE Paper (2001-01-0867) on the impacts of ATF cleanliness on A/T life expectancy. I tried to attach it... but at 962 kB it did not let me. It is located here, though:

A bit dry-reading, i.e. a scholarly article, but in my view something that really corroborates the whole claim of why we want really low-micron filtration for an A/T.

Swarf circulating in the ATF wears the valve body out, it wears out the rolling-element bearings... roller, ball, and Torrington, it worsens the wear of the steels, etc...

We all want to maximize A/T life... as they are expensive to fix... and in some cases, upon failure - they efffectively "total" a car from an economic perspective.

Thanks for the link. I wanted to install a Magnefine transmission filter to the vehicle to filter better than the basic paper element one sitting above the pan. Unfortunately there are no external oil lines to tap into like many vehicles. Ours only have lines with coolant running through the transmission. If anyone has come across an aftermarket transmission filter that filters much smaller particulate, let me know. The Magnefine filter is definitely going on our Jeep when I change the transmission oil in that.

Thanks for the link. I wanted to install a Magnefine transmission filter to the vehicle to filter better than the basic paper element one sitting above the pan. Unfortunately there are no external oil lines to tap into like many vehicles. Ours only have lines with coolant running through the transmission. If anyone has come across an aftermarket transmission filter that filters much smaller particulate, let me know. The Magnefine filter is definitely going on our Jeep when I change the transmission oil in that.

Maybe I am misunderstanding you, above.... but the transmission fluid runs to the radiator... and within the radiator there is a cooling loop that is immersed in the coolant. It both warms up the ATF... and it limits the max ATF temp, albeit to a pretty high level. Those are the lines that you would want to intercept with a filter.

The other couple/three points I should like to make is that i) not all of the "swarf" that circulates is metallic... i.e. which would become attached to a magnet. Some of the swarf is friction material from the clutches and bands... and so maybe the Magnefine would not be optimal, on that account; ii) the Magnefine (or any other in-line filter) indeed, if the Magnefine has filter media inside of it HAS TO be a coarse-enough filtration filter that it will not unduly plug up (lest it then totally cut off any cooling that the transmission needs and the oil source through the cooling lines that likely feeds another circuit or a bearing). So an in-line filter cannot be a tight-media filter. Only a bypass filter can be. Which leads me to point iii):

iii) that referenced SAE paper (and indeed, all other sources related to super-filtration of ATF) refer to the tight-media filter being operated in bypass. Then, when inevitably the super-filter plugs up... it does no damage to the A/T. Please see the attached graphic... which shows the bypass arrangement. Note that, say, a 5% bypass rate, if that, in NO TIME FLAT cleans up ALL of the fluid to a super-low micron level.

Thanks for the link. I wanted to install a Magnefine transmission filter to the vehicle to filter better than the basic paper element one sitting above the pan. Unfortunately there are no external oil lines to tap into like many vehicles. Ours only have lines with coolant running through the transmission. If anyone has come across an aftermarket transmission filter that filters much smaller particulate, let me know. The Magnefine filter is definitely going on our Jeep when I change the transmission oil in that.

Maybe I am misunderstanding you, above.... but the transmission fluid runs to the radiator... and within the radiator there is a cooling loop that is immersed in the coolant. It both warms up the ATF... and it limits the max ATF temp, albeit to a pretty high level. Those are the lines that you would want to intercept with a filter.

The other couple/three points I should like to make is that i) not all of the "swarf" that circulates is metallic... i.e. which would become attached to a magnet. Some of the swarf is friction material from the clutches and bands... and so maybe the Magnefine would not be optimal, on that account; ii) the Magnefine (or any other in-line filter) indeed, if the Magnefine has filter media inside of it HAS TO be a coarse-enough filtration filter that it will not unduly plug up (lest it then totally cut off any cooling that the transmission needs and the oil source through the cooling lines that likely feeds another circuit or a bearing). So an in-line filter cannot be a tight-media filter. Only a bypass filter can be. Which leads me to point iii):

iii) that referenced SAE paper (and indeed, all other sources related to super-filtration of ATF) refer to the tight-media filter being operated in bypass. Then, when inevitably the super-filter plugs up... it does no damage to the A/T. Please see the attached graphic... which shows the bypass arrangement. Note that, say, a 5% bypass rate, if that, in NO TIME FLAT cleans up ALL of the fluid to a super-low micron level.

The magnefine is designed to bypass flow of “plugged” up. Plus I would plan to do fluid replacements regularly anyways.

If you look up the service manual you will see that there are “coolant filled” lines running to an oil cooler mounted on the transmission. It actually states that you must drain the coolant to replace these lines. When I was under and around the transmission I did not see any other external lines running from it.

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